Queen Guinevere's Spirit Pressure seemed to make the skies bow down. It was only at this moment that the people of Camelot and the Demon Empire realized that the strongest mage of Camelot wasn't The Pope, nor was it Arthur, nor was it even Mordred…
It was the Queen of the people. Guinevere Pendragon.
"Hoho! Good! The more, the merrier!"
City Lord White's laughter continued, brandishing her hammer to smash toward King Arthur again as though she hadn't sensed Guinevere's presence in the least.
Sharp, icy winds spun around the Queen, her black hair rapidly becoming coated in a thin layer of ice. In an instant, her tanned skin and black hair became as white as snow, her eyes becoming such a pale shade of blue that they too seemed to become white.
Several javelins of ice formed to her back, shattering the sound barrier as they shot forward.
The mages of Camelot immediately reeled in shock. They couldn't wrap their minds around how the Queen displayed such prowess without her wand.
At that moment, City Lord White became more serious. She wasn't a well informed person. All she knew was battle. If it wasn't related to brandishing her hammer, she didn't want to hear about it.
But, what she did have were instincts honed over countless years of endless battle. So, though she didn't know the name of the exact Innate Force Node Queen Guinevere had awakened, she knew that it couldn't be a weak one.
"Ha!"
City Lord White swung her hammer toward the incoming ice javelins. The shattering of ice resounded through the battlefield, gorgeous snowflakes wildly fluttering at the point of contact.
Under the astonished gazes of many, City Lord White took a single step back. Though it was just one, it filled King Arthur and the others with fighting spirit. This wild she-devil had finally shown a weakness.
In the skies, Mordred finally sighed a breath of relief. When Arthur almost died, she felt her heart seize. She never thought that she would have such a strong reaction to the almost death of her father. It seemed that blood was truly thicker than water.
Unfortunately, she wasn't able to come down from the skies. If she let the aerial units of White City run rampant, this battle would be over as soon as it started.
Luckily, her mother had come to the battlefield.
Under normal circumstances, King Arthur would never allow her to. In fact, the only reason he allowed Mordred to battle at all was because he didn't really have a choice. After all, she was the ruler of the demons. If she wasn't here, who would take command of them exactly? There was a reason Lionus couldn't be found on the battlefield.
Guinevere's appearance caused the landscape of the war to shift once again.
City Lord White was constantly placed on her backfoot, her hammer deflecting Guinevere's barrage of ice javelin's.
Guinevere's ranged assault put even Leonel to shame. To be able to put so much power into each strike, it was well beyond anything the current Leonel could do. It was hard to believe that Camelot still had such a trump card in the wings.
It seemed that the awakening of Guinevere's ability made her powerful beyond belief.
Taking advantage of Guinevere keeping City Lord White pinned down, the others began to act as well, pincering the City Lord from all sides.
King Arthur activated [Light Domain], sending a barrage of light projectiles toward City Lord White as well.
Noah brandished his saber, using the openings Queen Guinevere created to send out strikes of his own.
In the blink of an eye, it seemed as though everything had flipped on its head. Even City Lord White's laughter seemed to have come to a grinding halt.
However, those who assaulted her didn't seem capable of relaxing even for a moment. No, it wasn't that they weren't capable, but rather that they couldn't. City Lord White's laughter may have come to a close, but the look on her face sent shivers down all of their spines.
Her grin became wider and wider, a sinister darkness cascading over her face.
The solemn atmosphere of the battlefield seemed to grow several fold. It was as though City Lord White's lack of laughter was even more of a sign than her actual laughter had been. And… the only ones who seemed to be in the dark about this were the experts locked in battle with her.
"Good. Good. Good. Now, I can finally go all out!"
In the distance, Niya watched on, a clipboard being hugged against her chest. She shook her head, lamenting the state of things.
'It would have been better if they were too weak, at least then City Lord wouldn't truly go berserk.' Niya sighed. 'How will we reel her in this time…?'
Niya began to rack her brain. As far as she was concerned, this battle was as good as over. She only hoped that her City Lord didn't sink too far in this time.
"Blood! Blood! BLOOD!"
City Lord White's cry almost manifested like a banshee's. It was a shrill shriek that could cause one's blood to curdle and one's heart to stop.
At that moment, City Lord White's short hair suddenly began to wildly grow. In the blink of an eye, it became like a river of crimson floating in the air.
What was even more shocking, though, was the change to her eyes. In a moment, the whites of her eyes became a blood red, while her irises became a murky grey. No matter how one looked at her, she looked like a demon incarnate…
But, as though to ensure those who didn't think so saw through to the truth of the situation, corpses from all around the battlefield trembled. Then, in the blink of an eye, they were completely drained, streams of blood from their dead bodies shooting into the air and pouring into City Lord White's hair as though to nurture it.
"BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOD!"
City Lord White's laughter once again sounded, but this time, it felt as though three women were laughing at once, then it was four, then five. Very soon, it was impossible to tell that they were women at all.
When everyone realized what was happening, their eyes widened in shock.
It wasn't City Lord White's laughter anymore at all. In fact, other than the mad grin on her face, City Lord White's mouth didn't open at all.
The laughter… it was coming from the blood… It was the voices of the dead piercing through the veil of the living as though to remind them all not to forget.
City Lord White shot forward, her speed more than triple what it had been before.
In less than a breath, she appeared before Lancelot, her hammer swinging forth.
Lancelot reacted as quickly as he could, piercing forward and up with his lance. But, a vibrant red glow that pulsed like a beating heart appeared on City Lord White's hammer as it smashed downward.
At the instant of contact, Lancelot felt pain like he never had before.
The bones in his legs collapsed in on themselves, what remained of his knee piercing through his skin in gruesome fashion.
All the strength he had accumulated seemed to be no better than a child swinging with all their might at an adult. In all his life, Lancelot had never felt so weak, nor had he ever suffered through such pain.
"Lancelot!"
Arthur, Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table all shouted in rage at once. But, City Lord White's laughter was like a melodious tune being plucked to their suffering.
…
At that moment, within a military healing tent, the temperature had already skyrocketed past 200 degrees Celsius. The heart beat of the young girl had grown so loud that it could be heard even outside the flapping curtains…
It was in that instant that her eyes shot open, reflecting a blinding golden light.
"Blood…"
The voice was soft, but it seemed to reach the ears of every person on the battlefield.